Citizenship ahoy

God bless the land that gave us birth!No pray'r but this know we.God bless the land, of all the earth,The happy and the free.And where's the land like ours can braveThe splendor of the day.And find no son of hers a slave?God bless America!God bless the land, the land belovedForever and for aye!God bless the land that gave us birth.God bless America!

This week, I filed my citizenship papers. I cannot wait for my vote to not be counted like everyone else's!

I am seriously excited to complete the civics test and prove that I am more qualified to be a citizen than most natural-born Americans. Matt quizzed me the other day with the practice questions at the back of the citizenship guide, and I got nearly all of them right - including naming the original thirteen colonies off the top of my head, yay! I missed the questions about Patrick Henry (unheard of in Australian history classrooms, and his name is too goddamn generic to stick in my head) and how many members there are in the House of Reps. An informal questioning of educated Americans in my college classrooms reveals that, in fact, nobody knows how many people are in the House of Reps.

The answer, which I will now remember for life, is 435. (Answer subject to change following the next census).

The processing time for the I-400 is something like two years, so it's likely my vote officially won't not count until 2012.

The Blob was filmed around Downingtown, where I live. In this trailer, you can see a shot of the diner which is just down the road.

Speaking of the theremin, I am currently modifying mine to include a sort of fingerboard, for more accurate intonation -- I have to play it at a concert next month of new music at my college. On the program: that L'Homme Arme thing I composed last semester. I have to retool some of the actual music as well. Hopefully I'll get a decent recording.